This fine – in aesthetics as well as in content – documentary won The Dragon Award for Best Nordic Documentary at the Göteborg Film Festival beginning of February this year. The jury‘s motivation is so precise and well written that I will use some of the words as starting points for this review’s recommendation to show the film on big screens, when festivals ”open” again.  

This award is given for the curiosity of the directors in observing vastly different opposing groups, resulting in a polyphonic portrait of a country in which peace doesn’t seem welcome. The precise use of photography and editing submerges us in the differing realities presented and creates a stark contrast between the political sensibilities at play in the natural and urban environments, and the associated poverty and luxury. This film goes beyond being an intimate portrait of a country, and makes us reflect upon colonialism and post-colonialism, capitalism and anti-capitalism, and what keeps us going as humanity.

…Observing vastly different opposing groups. The film takes its beginning in the 2016 peace agreement between the government (when the President was Santos) and FARC. There is a focus on the strong young and sympathetic soldier from FARC, Ernesto, who is to be a leading character through the film. He believes in the peace, believes in putting down the weapons after more than 50 years of war, believes in the right movement for FARC from guerilla to political party. He ends up being disappointed, when all hope for peace is crashed; the government sends soldiers to stop the farmers from picking coca leaves to end their sole possibility for having an income; brutality reigns, paramilitary groups operate, the war continues. Another character is a man from the decadent upper class, who says that he would never allow a FARC person to enter his palazzo, and who has no sympathy for the political class – that also includes a right-wing female politician, who express her philosophy more or less like this: the poor are happy with their lives and so are the rich. No problem!

… The precise use of photography. I would go further in my characterisation: The camera work is excellent, lots of close-ups, energy in the scenes with an editing that lets some of them (the scenes) be loose and develop like those with Ernesto and his friend in the tent in the jungle. Funny they are.

… beyond being an intimate portrait of a country. Yes, definitely there is this clear sense of classes, in that way the filmmakers have succeeded in creating a drama as good as any fiction.

2020, Finland, 90 mins.

www.nordiskpanorama.com

I had seen it before, in a rough cut version and in a final version. I had made notes but could not find them so I was happy, when the director Tatia Kkhirtladze asked her distributor Christa Auderlitzky from filmdelights in Vienna to send me a link.

And it was as fresh as the first time I met the film, entertaining and well made, full of joy and lovely archive from the time of Soviet Georgia. Because of the four chess masters looking back, reflecting on what chess has meant to them in their lives as stars, world champions, public figures in Georgia and worshipped abroad, especially in Serbia, where Milunka Lazarevic, a grandmaster herself, is the one who says clever words about the four, especially about ”The Queen”, Nona Gaprindashvili, whose first name is carried by a huge amount of Georgians, as the film proves. Nona has this special sports winning gene that kept her on the top for fifteen years and made her a carreer as a sportswoman in Sovjetunion. Her charisma is strong, she talks about FC Barcelona (writes this fan) and she gives the anecdote that astronaut Gagarin stayed away from a friendly billiard match with her, when he heard that she would probably be better than him!

Maia Chiburdanidze was the world champion, after Nona, also for 15 years. She sticks out from the three others in the way she dresses – the others are ”ladies” – and talks. She says that did not feel free before she lost and felt she played her best chess. A woman close to nature and a woman who produces perfume from herbs. And who loves to tease Nona who in her senior championship activity often is the one becoming number four or so. 

Nana Alexandria and Nana Ioseliani are the two other masters, who are also still active in chess clubs, where they teach kids about the sport or they go around beating men in tournaments. 

… and for me who has been there and love the food and drinks – there is so much to enjoy from Tbilisi and the countryside. Via the fine meetings with four women, as young and as mature grown ups, some grannies. You get the impression that chess has given them a good life.

The film had its world premiere earlier this month at the CineDoc 2020 Festival that runs until the end of this month. I don’t see any reason for the film NOT to travel to other festivals – written by someone who knows nothing about chess.

Georgia, 80 mins., 2020

All right. Shit happens! And I know how the organisers, with their sense of professionalism, feel right now after an award ceremony that was supposed to be “a festive Gala” but was spoilt by technical problems. Here in Copenhagen, in my armchair, with my usual slippers that I have also used for many workshops, when these have taken place in hotels where you stay and work, I saw the wonderful host Nadia Jebril alone in the town hall in Malmö, where I was in persona last year. She was presenting one award after the other. I heard her voice, I saw the nominees, I heard the jurors saying who were the winners, but their lips were not moving. It was like a stop motion animation film. The same for the winners in their homes thanking. A classic dramaturgy for an award ceremony, in this case damaged by technical problems. The organisers recognised the mistakes and ask you to go

to https://www.facebook.com/NordiskPanoramaFilm/videos/779104632910601

if you want to see the award ceremony in the right speed and with image and sound synchron.

Please do so! They deserve it. 

And for the awards, “The Painter and the Thief” by Norwegian Benjamin Ree got the main award. No objections!

«Tamara is a feminist but also a hopeless romantic in love with a Catholic man with whom she shares few beliefs. Sierzput has just won his girlfriend back but is struggling to hold on to her. And out of sheer boredom, Ponek has broken her own rule and has started sleeping with her friends. A love letter to people in their late twenties, where many are waiting for adulthood only to realise it has already arrived.» The words are taken from the catalogue of Nordisk Panorama 2020, about this film that is in the competition section “New Nordic Voice”.

I was puzzled: Why a Polish film in the Nordisk Panorama? I had to go to the Q&A to get the answer. Here Martijn te Pajs, festival programmer and an excellent conversation partner for the young DANISH director, helped me. Karl Forchhammer explained that he had studied in Prague and at the National Film School in England and had filmed «Last Days of Summer» in Warsaw.

I like the Central European culture, Karl Forchhammer said but considers this to be a very Polish film as well. I agree, knowing films by Piotr Stasik and other Polish coming out from the Wajda film school. It has nerve, rythm, it catches moments of intensity and I believe that the world can look like that in a bohemian environment, where cigarettes are smoked constantly, as well as joints, with a lot of bottles in hand and on the tables, with a sex scene, and a lot of sex being discussed, and what is love – «the last days of summer» – what comes after, as the director said in the Q&A. “It was of course a privilege for me – having the same age as the three protagonists – to be able to sit there with them for a week or two without shooting.”

Watch the film, it would not surprise me if there is an award for it. Anyway the director shows big cinematic talent and sensibility, support him!

https://nordiskpanorama.com/en/festival/

Two days. 20 projects presented. I attended them all online as an observer. From my armchair. And had fewer sighs and shaking my head in disappointment than when the Forum is alive. Why… Maybe because I had close-ups on my screen of the moderators, the pitching teams and the broadcasters and film fund consultants. Instead of sitting far away from the action, in an observer’s seat in a big hall.

The moderators did a very fine job – Gitte Hansen’s face always readable: Here is an emotional project, here is something that could be fun to watch, and sceptical (with good reason), when some of the panelists did not really deliver what she wanted. The same with Mikael Opstrup who also contributed with quick reactions to what was said. Why less irritated… Maybe also, no because it is so important that documentarians meet in tough times, both those who make or support the films and those, who are waiting for good films to be broadcast.

Those pitching were in general well prepared and appreciated that some came 

to the trailer/teaser quickly and that some put in some passion in their talks. I was again thinking that we could do without the end comments, “we are looking for coproductions and pre-sales…”, of course they do, why not just say “ we are looking for funding and (very few said that) creative help”. On the other hand, in terms of pitching, it also still surprises me that so many need a script to look at. It makes a presentation more stiff when your language is written language.

And the responders to the pitch –  they were all very positive, “thank you for the pitch” (I am fed up with that start sentence!) and then some comments, best when they asked questions that reflected some doubts. It is difficult to say something very brief, you need to be prepared, to have read the project in beforehand, watched the material, listen carefully to the verbal presentation. 

Anyway, here is a handful of film projects that made me curious, you can check the details on the Forum’s website, link below:

Calendar Girls, Sweden – because of the original subject, “coming of old age story”, women over 60 in a dance team. The teaser presented what they do and think about as they are getting closer to the end, with humour – and indicated cinematic skills.

The Eclipse, Norway – because of the teaser, totally different from the 19 other presented, and the subject that interests me a lot: Serbia in 1999, and today. The director, Natasa Urban, born in Serbia, goes to her parents to draw out from them, and from herself, the memories of the crucial war. She wants to shoot on 16mm to give the past a cinematic look, she explained in a very convincing presentation.

The Last Relic, Estonia – because I know the project from before, and the director Marianna Kaat, who will, I am sure , catch the Russian soul after having filmed in Yekaterinburg for years, where a “theatre of the absurd reveals the conflicts between the political movements.” Marianna is very proud to have the Danish editor Jesper Osmund helping her. His name was mentioned several times.

I do salute the Nordisk Panorama system with a Wildcard for each of the countries, where film consultants choose a project to be pitched. The two first mentioned above are wildcards and here is another one that is surprising in content and form, from Iceland:

Band: This is not a Band, Iceland –“… is the make it or break it story of an Icelandic female band that probably will not make it and isn’t really a band”. 40 year old mothers… , a quite funny presentation, visual and verbal, by actress Alfrun Örnaolfsdottir – it helps with an actress pitching – who said that the film follow the women on their journey to, yes to what? They have booked a big hall to perform, but will anyone buy a ticket? Crazy project and crazy it was to have Gréta Olafsdottir from New York saying “just throw some money at them”. It was indeed uplifting to have a wild card as this at the forum.

The Gullspång Miracle, Sweden – because it’s a total wild story about old women, sisters and maybe not sisters, dna tests, paintings on a wall, family secrets, the trailer blew me away, confused me totally but also convinced me that this will be a fantastic family film, full of fun and emotions. Made me curious, and that’s what pitching is there for, right?

… and then of course there were the Swedish “Hacking Hate”, investigative journalism from and about the digital world, very timely, the Danish “The Fake Will – Forgiveness and Redemption”, Sønderby Jepsen’s follow-up to “The Will”, quite a story, and the director is a true storyteller, and the other Danish family film, “The Mountain”, very well presented by Christian Einshøj, no reading from paper, straight from the heart.

The still is from “The Will”, that now is followed by “The Fake Will…”, it’s gonna be a great film, I am sure.

https://nordiskpanorama.com/en/industry/forum/forum-projects/?type=selected

Same procedure as last year – NO:

Online pitching as in many/most of the industry events connected to festivals since March this year. No meetings face-to-face. 10 projects today and 10 tomorrow. 15 minutes per Project. 50% for presentation, 50% for feedback. Business as usual – individual meetings in the afternoon, pre-booked by the Forum staff. And individual meetings later in the afternoon with the North American Decision-Makers, pre-booked as well.

It started at 9 this morning. Moderators were as usual the Danish Gitte Hansen and Mikael Opstrup. Sitting in Malmö. They did not respect the rule of distance, but showed their test results on paper to the camera. Opstrup with the fine Covid-Pass document we make in Denmark, Gitte Hansen with an email from the Swiss authorities; she lives and works in Zürich. Fine to see the two on the screen, much closer than usual. They were fresh, well prepared, enjoying to sit there inviting the filmmakers to present their projects as well as calling for comments from the panelists, i.e broadcasters and film institute/fund consultants. No sales agents or distributors, I guess they will be there for the individual meetings…

I was one of – I think it was mentioned that there were 200 (!) observers. I could see the moderators, the filmmakers and the panelists, who made comments. Sometimes unfortunately with sound and image not being synchronous.

But I could not see, who else was observing. Too many to have on one screen, I guess ! On the website I read the names of those attending, and gosh there are many who – while this is being written – are now busy with the individual meetings.

The panelists – competent veterans like Jenny Westergaard (YLE), Erkko Lyttinen (also YLE, Finland), Charlotte Madsen (SVT, Sweden), Karolina Lidin (Nordic Film/TV Fund), Hanka Kastelicová (HBO Europe), Nathalie Windhorst (VPRO, Holland) – and newcomers like Frank Piasecki Poulsen from the Danish Film Institute, who did his job, positive and straight forward. From the Finnish and Swedish film institutes there were new people, who will have a lot of meetings, I suppose, and learn from that. Also interesting to see what Nils Bökamp can do, film director from Norway, who now works for Netflix. And I liked the energy of Hera Olafsdottir from RUV, the Icelandic television.

Arte, the European Cultural Channel, was there with a representative from NDR/arte, who was asked for comments several times and who was pretty brief saying that « we have no slots for that, sorry ». All right, but some constructive, critical comments or « you should go to my colleague xx » ? OMG is my comment, what happens to Arte.

Another critical point from my side… remember that this public pitch is also a place, where you as an observer can get updated on how broadcasters and film consultants evaluate film projects – content, style, director, production company, film language… I know it’s difficult to be brief but if the comment is only « we have a meeting this afternoon ». What do we observers, the audience get out of it ?

Tomorrow I will write about some of the projects, those that were pitched today and those that will be on screen tomorrow.

Photo is from the Swedish “Calendar Girls”, a project I liked a lot.

https://nordiskpanorama.com/en/industry/forum/forum-2020/forum-programme-2020/